Disney World monorail workers on paid leave, procedures changed in recent years

Posted Friday, July 10, 2009 1:04 PM | Contributed by Jeff

Walt Disney World said that it has placed three employees who were working during Sunday's monorail accident on paid leave. Although the resort declined to identify the employees by name, they include a monorail pilot, a worker in the monorail's maintenance shop, and a transportation manager.

One of the first changes Walt Disney World made following last weekend's fatal monorail crash was requiring drivers to operate their trains from twin controls in the rear cab when switching off of the resort's Epcot loop. The decision came after a pilot in Sunday's accident remained in the front cab as he reversed direction while attempting to switch tracks -- and wound up backing into another train. But former monorail pilots say Disney's order is actually a return to what used to be a standard procedure, one that was changed over the years to save time.